The Depth Facilitator’s Handbook

ISBN: 978-0-620-44545-0

SIZE: 250x210mm. 256pp

PRICE: R350 (excl VAT)

About the Book

In order to create sustainable and healthy organizations, one needs to understand and work with the full complexity of the human psyche. This includes working with both the conscious and unconscious parts of the individual and the group. Working at the unconscious level means considering the underlying, often unspoken, dynamics in individuals, groups, teams and organizations. This is the ‘depth work’ approach.

Depth Facilitation assists individuals and groups to achieve their chosen goals by helping them overcome personal and interpersonal barriers, as well as assisting them to access additional potential and creativity through building awareness of the psychological processes that determine their behaviour.

The Depth Facilitator’s Handbook outlines the key principles and provides the tasks, tools and techniques for working effectively as a depth facilitator.

About the Publisher

Moonshine Media

Reg No 2006/210509/23. Vat No 4060238369

To order directly from the author, please email her.

The Contents Pages (with page number)

Section 1: Foundation theories

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO FACILITATION 16
Introduction 16
What is facilitation? 17
The complexity of group processes 19
Surface processes 20
Depth processes 20
“Surface” and “depth” facilitation 20
Learning facilitation skills 22
Personal Exercises 23

CHAPTER 2: UNDERLYING PHILOSOPHIES 24
Introduction 24
Theories of human behaviour 24
Organisational Psychology 25
The different schools of Clinical Psychology 25
The Behavioural School of Psychology 25
The Cognitive School of Psychology 26
The Humanistic Perspective 26
The Developmental School of Psychology 26
Depth Psychology 27
The importance of the unconscious 27
The difficulty of working with the unconscious in organisations 27
Systems thinking 28
Process and content 31
Deep democracy 31
Typologies, frameworks & developmental stages 32
Conclusion 33
Personal Exercises 34

CHAPTER 3: DEPTH PSYCHOLOGY – THE INDIVIDUAL 35
Introduction 35
The logic of the individual 35
The architecture of the individual psyche 36
The origins of Depth Psychology 38
Archetypes 38
Instincts 38
The creation of the individual unconscious 39
Intra-psychic conflict 41
Anxiety 42
Sources of anxiety and how individuals respond 42
Mindell’s concept of the edge 44
Edge behaviour 46
The role of defence mechanisms 50
Projection 52
Projective identification 54
Transference and counter-transference 56
Complexes 56
Repetition compulsion 56
Conclusion 57
Personal exercises 58

CHAPTER 4: DEPTH PSYCHOLOGY – THE GROUP 59
Introduction 59
The Architecture of the Group Psyche 59
The Notion of the Group Psyche 61
What is a group? 61
Types of groups 62
Functions fulfilled by groups 62
The group context 63
The group history 63
Group complexes 64
The group field 64
Psychological systems in a group 65
The group identity 67
Group power 67
Group sizes 68
Group energy 69
The group task and intention 70
Group behaviour 71
Archetypes and instincts 71
Role types 72
Role differentiation 74
Individual role valency 75
Role casting 76
Role suction 76
Role identification 76
Scapegoating 77
The ghost role 79
Roles and positions 79
Role dances 80
Group processes 82
Defensive processes 82
Group anxiety 82
Group defence mechanisms 83
Group developmental processes 87
Power dynamics in groups 91
Some definitions 91
The impact of power and difference in groups 91
Types of rank 92
The psychological impact of rank 93
The dynamics of rank differences 93
Rank and responsibility 94
Rank awareness 94
Creating rank awareness 95
Minorities and majorities 95
Rank inversion 95
Formal versus informal rank 96
The role of rank in projective processes 96
Rank and group constitution 96
Conclusion 97
Personal exercises 98

Section 2: You as facilitator

CHAPTER 5: MANAGING YOUR OWN PSYCHOLOGY 100
Introduction 100
The demands on a facilitator 100
The importance of self-awareness 101
An attitude of neutrality 102
Inner work 103
Inner work exercise 103
Getting hooked 105
Inner work in front of a group 106
Ongoing inner work 106
Managing Transference 107
Managing Counter-transference 108
Managing positive projections 108
Managing negative projections 109
Managing the demands of individual members 110
The inner critic 110
Barriers to awareness 110
Paying attention to depth processes 111
Protecting yourself 111
Attacks on the facilitator 111
Popularity as a facilitator 112
Leadership and facilitation 112
The facilitator’s need for connection 112
Rest and recovery 113
Conclusion 113
Personal exercises 114

CHAPTER 6: THE ETHICS AND METASKILLS OF A FACIL ITATOR 115
Introduction 115
The ethics of facilitation 115
An ethical attitude 115
Ethical guidelines 116
Metaskills 117
Compassion 117
Playfulness 118
Detachment 119
Fluidity 119
Intelligence 119
Discipline 120
Courage 120
Humility 120
Patience 120
Ruthlessness 121
Imagination 121
Collective consciousness 121
Harnessing energy 122
Curiosity 122
Renewal 122
Reverence 123
Conclusion 123
Personal exercises 123

CHAPTER 7: YOUR ROLE AND TASKS AS A FACIL ITATOR 124
Introduction 124
Facilitation roles 124
Clarifying the facilitation role 125
Roles, tasks and skills 125
Managing Structure 126
Facilitator’s role 126
Facilitator’s tasks 126
Facilitator’s skills/knowledge 126
Managing People 127
Facilitator’s role 127
Facilitator’s tasks 127
Facilitator’s skills/knowledge 127
Managing Content 128
Facilitator’s role 128
Facilitator’s tasks 128
Facilitator’s skills/knowledge 128
Managing Process 129
Facilitator’s role 129
Facilitator’s tasks 129
Facilitator’s skills/knowledge 129
Skills and knowledge development 130
Personal exercises 130

CHAPTER 8: ESSENTIAL FACIL ITATION SKILLS 131
Introduction 131
Presentation skills 131
Credibility 131
Mobility 132
Confidence projection 132
Voice projection 133
Mannerisms and bridging sounds 133
Eye contact 133
Awareness and observation skills 133
Observation guidelines 134
Other awareness prompts 135
Listening skills 135
Reflective listening 135
Reflective listening guidelines 136
Language skills 137
General language guidelines 137
Feedback skills 138
The function and value of feedback 138
Basic guidelines for giving feedback 138
Guidelines for receiving feedback as a facilitator 140
Defensive behaviour as a result of negative feedback 140
Stimulation skills 141
Open questions 141
Closed questions 141
Verbal techniques for stimulating discussion 142
Support skills 143
Verbal techniques for supporting participants 143
Control skills 143
Verbal techniques for controlling the discussion 144
Conclusion 144
Personal Exercises 145

Section 3: Facilitation practice

CHAPTER 9: DEPTH FACIL ITATION GUIDELINES 147
Introduction 147
Making the unconscious conscious 147
Approaches to depth work in organisations 148
When is depth facilitation needed? 148
Benefits of a depth facilitation intervention 149
Costs of a depth facilitation intervention 149
The implications of depth facilitation for leadership 150
The implications for business processes 151
Situations where depth facilitation will not work 151
Caution required 151
The importance of contracting for depth work 152
The importance of Depth Psychology education 153
Helpful psychological mechanisms 154
Phase entrainment 154
The transcendent function in groups 154
Conclusion 155
Personal exercises 155

CHAPTER 10: MANAGING STRUCTURE 156
Managing structure overview 156
Facilitator’s role 156
Facilitator’s tasks and related skills 156
Facilitator’s guidelines, tools and techniques 157
1. Analysing client requirements 157
2. Contracting with the client 158
3. Designing a group session 159
4. Organising a session 160
5. Clarifying session objectives and structure 160
6. Clarifying session roles 161
7. Gaining group agreement for objectives, structure and roles 161
8. Providing information and education about depth facilitation 162
9. Ensuring task completion 162
10. Setting and maintaining boundaries and limits 162
11. Ensuring that group agreements are adhered to 163
12. Managing housekeeping 163
Conclusion 165
Personal exercises 165

CHAPTER 11: MANAGING PEOPLE 166
Managing people overview 166
Facilitator’s role 166
Facilitator’s tasks and related skills 166
Facilitator’s guidelines, tools and techniques 167
1. Establishing session climate 167
2. Building containment 167
3. Building rapport 170
4. Providing support to participants 171
5. Ensuring full participation 171
6. Monitoring and managing group energy levels 172
7. Intervening to manage personal, interpersonal & group dynamics 173
8. Ensuring good group practices 176
9. Managing transference and counter-transference 177
Conclusion 178
Personal exercises 178

CHAPTER 12: MANAGING CONTENT 179
Managing content overview 179
Facilitator’s role 179
Facilitator’s tasks and related skills 179
Facilitator’s guidelines, tools and techniques 180
1. Maintaining neutrality 180
2. Managing agenda setting 182
3. Tracking content 183
4. Organising content 184
5. Clarifying content 186
6. Summarising content 186
7. Documenting content 186
8. Identifying depth content 188
9. Elucidating symbols 189
10. Interpreting from a depth perspective 191
11. Linking symbolism with concrete content 193
12. Maintaining multilevel perspectives 193
Conclusion 193
Personal exercises 194

CHAPTER 13: MANAGING PROCESS 195
Managing Process Overview 195
Facilitator’s role 195
Facilitator’s tasks and related skills 195
Facilitator’s guidelines, tools and techniques 196
1. Initiating and explaining group surface process 196
2. Facilitating surface process 198
3. Closing surface process 199
4. Tracking the group development process & intervening appropriately 200
5. Identifying depth processes 206
6. Surfacing depth processes 212
7. Completing depth processes 217
Guidelines for the facilitation of specific processes 225
Polarising processes 225
Cathartic processes 233
Reconciliation processes 233
8. Integrating depth processes with surface process 238
Conclusion 240
Personal Exercises 240

BIBLIOGRAPHY 243

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 249